Proms not in jeopardy: '98 per cent' of Toronto high schools already have a plan B

Toronto proms not in jeopardy: High schools already had a plan B

With the fate of Toronto’s high school proms seemingly thrown into jeopardy by a work-to-rule teachers’ strike, the Toronto District School Board withdrew a motion to uphold the “pivotal social event” after discovering that virtually every school in Toronto already had a prom plan B.

“As it turns out, the motion was redundant,” its author, trustee Pamela Gough, told CP24 after the vote fizzled on Wednesday night.

Since mid-December, in protest of a contract dispute with the province, Ontario teachers have refused to participate in any extracurricular activities, including school sports, clubs, theatre programs and, Ms. Gough suspected, the year-end prom.

Her motion vowed that “all efforts be made to ensure that secondary-school proms be continued” and called on principals and administrators to draft alternative prom plans.

At the Wednesday night meeting of the board, the motion was withdrawn after Director of Education Donna Quan said that “98 per cent” of Toronto schools had already drafted such plans, with the other two per cent planning an alternative commemorative event.